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Saturday, October 8, 2016

CDS Flip Flops on African Mission

Michael Staples at The Daily Gleaner newspaper in Fredericton recently had an interview with Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance, in which some of the general’s interesting views emerged.

During the interview Vance claimed that all the discussion over the last several months about a Canadian military mission to Africa was just an “assumption” based on “people’s own assessments in the media.” “It’s been “over reported,” Vance claimed.

“Right now, I’ll tell you, honestly, there is no such thing as an Africa mission,” Vance told The Daily Gleaner. “It’s been over reported based on peoples’ own assessments in the media, in my view, that if you look at the world, it’s going to be an African mission. It’s an assumption.”

I wonder where all that “over reporting” came from? How did these media commentators ever, ever come to the “assumption” that the Canadian military was going to conduct an operation/operations in Africa?

Could it be in August when Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan told journalists that the Canadian military was looking at a number of countries in Africa to contribute troops?

Maybe.

Or how about this statement back in July?

“Internationally, the Army is at the forefront, managing conflicts around the world, contributing to operations in Iraq, building capacity with allies and partners in Poland, Ukraine, and very soon in Africa.”

Who said that?

Yes, that came direct from…..Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance.